A practitioner's guide to persuasion: an overview of 15 selected persuasion theories, models and frameworks.

Division of General Internal Medicine and Center for Communication in Healthcare at the Institute for Healthcare Studies, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. k-cameron@northwestern.edu

Erratum in

Patient Educ Couns. 2009 Aug;76(2):291.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To provide a brief overview of 15 selected persuasion theories and models, and to present examples of their use in health communication research.

RESULTS:

CONCLUSIONS:

As it is often the intent of a practitioner to shape, reinforce, or change a patient's behavior, familiarity with theories of persuasion may lead to the development of novel communication approaches with existing patients.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS:

This article serves as an introductory primer to theories of persuasion with applications to health communication research. Understanding key constructs and general formulations of persuasive theories may allow practitioners to employ useful theoretical frameworks when interacting with patients.